The confessions of a semi-successful author

Submitted by cel4145 on June 30, 2004 - 10:47.

This has been buried in my bookmarks, something I meant to post a long time ago. Last March, Salon published an anoymous narrative of one author's experiences trying to make a living as a writer. Even though the author is fairly well-published by many people's standards, it's a particularly disheartening story that appears to be indicative of the publishing industry.

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platypus matt's picture

Hmm

Submitted by platypus matt on July 1, 2004 - 09:32.

Now if I could just remember the site that had all those registrations and passwords for online magazines and newspapers.

I think more indicative of the publishing industry

Submitted by robmilde on July 2, 2004 - 12:42.

is the derision this article was met with by people in creative writing, both authors and editors. Here's an example of the derision: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/004925.html
Everyone there assumes that a writer needs a day job, you don't do it for the money, and that this author has actually been lucky. "Whiner" is a frequent epithet. On the other hand, I have similar feelings as an educator about how underpaid we all are, and I too wish the world was more accomodating to my wishes. But I don't think it's a shocking secret that artists and educators don't pull down a lot of money.